Steelers HC Mike Tomlin: ‘These are awkward days’

No head coach likes it when a season ends short of a Super Bowl, let alone short of the second round of the playoffs.

No head coach likes it when a season ends short of a Super Bowl, let alone short of the second round of the playoffs. Not only is it a letdown, but what follows is the heartstring-tugging process of exit interviews. Some players and staff will head into the offseason unscathed, some will be without jobs.

But it’s all about making the team better, which Mike Tomlin acknowledged in his final press conference of the 2023 season.

“These are awkward days kind of at the end of the season,” Tomlin said. “And so, we’re finding our footing. We’re doing appropriate things, exit interviews, I’m in the midst of beginning those things with players and staffing. The players themselves are exiting appropriately, meeting with coaches, departmental meetings, training staff, equipment, strength and conditioning, etc., nutrition.”

The Steelers want to ensure their players are armed with what they need to head into the offseason. Players then share how they feel the season went from their point of view, and theoretically, the team will then use this data to adjust and improve before the next season starts.

“Those are the things that kind of go on this time of year in an effort to
review what transpired, to gather information all so that when the time is right, man, we start building for 2024. We do so with that information, with those lessons learned, with that experience individually and collectively. And so, we have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Pittsburgh’s season ended how it has for 15 of Tomlin’s 17 seasons — without a trip to the dance. Not even close. When he says there’s a lot of work ahead, it’s a severe understatement.

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Mike Tomlin admits one of his ‘biggest regrets’ as Steelers head coach

Mike Tomlin wore his heart on his sleeve when asked about the urgency of winning now.

As fans, we often fail to see players and coaches as human. We put them on a pedestal and blast them left and right when they make mistakes. They have feelings just like you and me.

Mike Tomlin is one of those coaches. And he wore his heart on his sleeve today when asked about the urgency of winning now, especially for a guy like Cam Heyward, who is nearing retirement.

The Steelers have been on the losing end in their seven postseason appearances in Heyward’s 13-year career.

“I always move with that urgency,” Tomlin shared in his season-end press conference. “I think you can point to guys like that annually that are deserving of being champions. You want them to have that taste.

“It’s probably one of my biggest regrets professionally that Maurkice Pouncey, for example, is not a world champion because that guy is. So that is a motivating factor for me certainly, but continually, it is.”

Pouncey, who entered the league one season before Heyward, was a rookie when Pittsburgh lost to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV.

He didn’t get that Jerome Bettis storybook ending, and though it’s the ultimate goal for any team to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, it’s looking like Cam Heyward won’t have that honor.

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J.J. Watt: Steelers players backing Mike Tomlin aren’t satisfied with the outcome

Mike Tomlin’s players have come out in full support of their head coach, but it doesn’t mean their satisfied with the results.

With what’s now known as made-up commentary about Mike Tomlin considering stepping down from the Pittsburgh Steelers, there’s been overwhelming support from players of their head coach sticking around.

Some, like T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward, have said they won’t play for another. That’s huge, considering Watt is still in the prime of his career, and Heyward is heading into the final year of his contract.

“You look in the locker room, and you read the quotes of the guys in their exit interviews with the media, and every single guy has said that they only want to play for Tomlin,” J.J. Watt said on Wednesday’s Pat McAfee Show. “T.J. said it was a big part of his contract negotiation a couple years ago, he wants to play for Mike T., the only guy he wants to play for is Mike T. Everybody in that locker room loves him respects him wants to play for him.”

Just because they love their head coach doesn’t mean they love falling short of or losing in the first round of the playoffs every year.

“I also don’t think that that that means that they’re satisfied with the outcome. That means they’re satisfied with the way things have gone, and that means they’re satisfied with where they are currently.”

Watt sees both sides of the coin. He understands fans’ frustrations with Tomlin’s lack of playoff success and their desire for the team to move on from him — or at least weigh their options.

“I think there’s certainly things that they want to improve and get better on, but in today’s day and age, I also see the people on the other side. I do see the people’s side where they’re like, well, if Bill Belichick can be escorted out of his role as the head coach of a team that he won six championships with, why are we in this situation where we can’t maybe at least have a conversation about our coach.”

But, ultimately, for Watt, it comes down to there’s no quick fix that Tomlin walking away or getting jettisoned would solve.

“I am personally fully well aware of how difficult it is in this league to find a good football coach. I do think that people think that there’s these quick fixes and things somebody’s going to come in and make this thing miraculously better and figure it all. I really, really, really do not know if you’re going to find many better football coaches in the world than Mike Tomlin.”

While Watt, like several others, believes Tomlin is the only head coach for the Steelers, it doesn’t mean they do not need significant changes.

“I would say from an outsider standpoint, I think that Mike Tomlin is an unbelievable leader of men. He’s an unbelievable head coach. Obviously, this year, they had to change their offensive coordinator mid-year, and that offense was a bit of an issue. I do think that there are things that can certainly be improved. Mike Tomlin is still the best leader of men for this organization, so I think if you’re willing to go into the offseason and have realistic conversations about what needs to happen and how things need to change to make that next jump, you can also say we should still have Mike T. at the helm.”

Like it or not, Mike Tomlin will be head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers for the foreseeable future. Now it’s all about how the brass handles the rest going forward.

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Richard Sherman has it right about Steelers HC Mike Tomlin

Richard Sherman doesn’t believe Mike Tomlin has ever been on the hot seat.

Every year it seems the Pittsburgh Steelers fan base and members of the media want to put head coach Mike Tomlin on the hot seat. Despite going 17 straight seasons without a losing season, the lack of playoff success continues to force this sort of speculation.

This is something Amazon Prime analyst Richard Sherman wants no part of. Sherman was on “Undisputed” and he made it clear unless he hears it from Tomlin, he doesn’t believe any of the rumors.

As much as many want to see the Rooneys move on from Tomlin, we all understand this isn’t how they do business. No franchise in professional sports embodies consistency like the Steelers do. Having three head coaches in 53 years is unprecedented. Tomlin has a job with the Steelers until he decides to move on, and given the amount of passion he coaches with, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

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Steelers HC Mike Tomlin tells team he plans to return in 2024

Mike Tomlin will be back for the 2024 season.

According to NFL Network reporter Mike Garafolo, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin held a meeting with his team on Tuesday and announced he plans to coach the team in 2024.

In 17 years as Steelers coach, Tomlin has never had a losing season. The Steelers sneaked into the playoffs after firing the offensive coordinator and making a quarterback change, but the team was bounced in the first round. Tomlin’s Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since the 2016 season.

There had been a great deal of speculation about whether Tomlin would step away after this season or whether the team might simply let him coach in 2024 without an extension. The second is still a real possibility, but there’s no reason to believe the Rooneys are going to fire Tomlin.

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Steelers HC Mike Tomlin on the playoff drought: ‘That’s my story’

The Steelers haven’t won a playoff since 2016.

That 2016 Pittsburgh Steelers team was really good. Good enough to win a Super Bowl. But we never found out because an injury to running back Le’Veon Bell in the AFC Championship game left everyone wondering what might have been.

After that loss to the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh fell into a playoff drought and despite making the playoffs three times since (not counting 2023), they have been unable to win a playoff game. This is a burden head coach Mike Tomlin carries with him but doesn’t put on his team.

Not necessarily for our guys. That’s my story. That’s not Herbig’s story. In 2016 Herbig was probably in ninth grade. A guys like Elandon Roberts was playing for another team. It’s not their burden to bear. I don’t ask them to tote my luggage. I don’t project my luggage onto them. This is the 2023-24 Pittsburgh Steelers, and I’m concerned about this journey and rallying cries as it pertains to this group. And sometimes you’re kidding yourself if you think history like that is important to guys who weren’t a part of it. It’s not.

The only players on the roster who were on that 2016 team that lost to New England are defensive tackle Cam Heyward and kicker Chris Boswell. The Steelers are getting ready to take on the Buffalo Bills today and there’s nothing that would do more for Tomlin’s legacy in the eyes of fans who feel like regular-season consistency isn’t enough.

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Steelers insider: Mike Tomlin ‘trying to gain leverage’ with organization

Mike Tomlin is heading into the final year of his contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It wasn’t all that long ago that rumors were running rampant that the 2023 season could be Mike Tomlin’s last as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. But after his squad put together a three-game winning streak and squeaked into the playoffs to close things out, all is right with the world. As expected, he came out unscathed on Black Monday.

Last week, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported what’s likely unfounded “news” that Tomlin could potentially step down after Pittsburgh’s season ends.

That, of course, brought fans to question whether there was any validity to the report.

Steelers insider, The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, reported that, if anything, Tomlin is looking for leverage within the organization for his own future.

Tomlin is heading into his 18th season as head coach of one of the most storied sports franchises. It will also be the final year of his contract, which currently pays him handsomely at $12.5 million annually, according to Sportico.

But his salary doesn’t reflect all his success — two stabs at a Lombardi Trophy with one win and 17 non-losing seasons.

He’s just the sixth-highest-paid coach in the league behind Bill Belichick, Sean Payton, Pete Caroll, Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan.

“Tomlin isn’t the highest-paid coach in the league and probably should be near the top,” Kaboly wrote in his recent mailbag. “This is how I read this: He wants to stay with the Steelers but is trying to gain some leverage to get paid more.”

Speculation is that Tomlin’s contract will be extended this offseason, indicating he’ll be at the negotiating table with Art Rooney II in the coming months. The Rooney family has never spent big money to keep anyone, including coaches. And that frivolity could be what’s keeping elite staff away from Pittsburgh. If Tomlin wants to stick around — and why wouldn’t he — he may fight to be compensated at a higher rate.

But don’t expect that Tomlin will choose to leave the team.

“Nothing in my mind and bones believes that Tomlin wants to step away from the team just like Sean Payton did a couple of years ago with the Saints,” wrote Kaboly. “No way. Never. Not happening.”

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Steelers HC Mike Tomlin survives the head coach purge

Mike Tomlin rallied his team to save the season and possibly his job.

The first round of the NFL playoffs hasn’t even started yet and eight NFL head coaches are already out of work. This includes iconic names like Pete Carroll, Mike Vrabel Bill Belichick and Ron Rivera. It really feels like a changing of the guard in the NFL.

But not for Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. Tomlin survived the purge and came out smelling like a rose as the Steelers finished the season with three wins and snuck into the playoffs. Many fans wanted Tomlin gone at the midway point of the season, even after he fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada.

Tomlin joins John Harbaugh and Andy Reid as the last members of the old guard currently coaching and all three are in the playoffs. Here’s how the longest-tenured head coaches currently rank in the league.

1. Mike Tomlin (17 seasons)

2. John Harbaugh (16 seasons)

3. Andy Reid (11 seasons)

4. (tie) Sean McDermott, Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay (7 seasons)

5. (tie) Zac Taylor and Matt LaFleur (5 seasons)

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Adam Schefter: Steelers HC Mike Tomlin could pull a Sean Payton after playoffs

The Steelers are headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2021, but the big news of the morning centers around their head coach Mike Tomlin. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers are playoff-bound for the first time since 2021, but the big news of the morning centers on their head coach, Mike Tomlin.

Art Rooney II chose not to renew Tomlin’s contract with one year remaining, as he typically does. Rumor has it that it will be done this offseason.

But now it’s become a question of whether Tomlin will actually want to continue his coaching career in Pittsburgh.

“They’re not firing Mike Tomlin,” Adam Schefter said on Sunday’s “ESPN NFL Countdown.” “But here’s the thing that’s interesting: He’s got a year left on his contract. And there are some people around the league who believe Mike Tomlin could decide to take some time off like Sean Payton did.”

In 2022, Payton walked away from the New Orleans Saints with three seasons left on his contract. He took a gig as a broadcaster on Fox for a season before joining the Denver Broncos as their head coach in 2023.

“Mike Tomlin gets to dictate what happens here, not the Pittsburgh Steelers,” said Schefter. “They’re not firing him, he’s staying on, but he’s staying on if he wants to. If he decides that he’d like to walk, well, that’s a different subject. And maybe there’s a team out there, he’s from Washington, his wife loves Los Angeles, maybe one of them wants to lob a call into the Steelers to see if they could wind up doing something with him.”

It sounds like Schefter is grasping at straws here, as he has no hard facts to support his statement. Literally anyone can make things up just for the sake of a story, and a line like “there are some people around the league” reeks of just that.

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Twitter reacts to Steelers HC Mike Tomlin and big win

Twitter came to the defense of Mike Tomlin bigtime on Saturday night.

It’s been a season of extremes for the Pittsburgh Steelers and their fans. The fanbase has basically wanted every coach on the payroll fired at one point including head coach Mike Tomlin just a month ago. Now the Steelers are 10-7 after beating the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday and Twitter is having some fun with everything.